Dry spring, high fuel costs putting pinch on Oklahoma wheat farmers

Thursday, June 30th 2005, 6:50 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Wheat farming in Oklahoma is never an easy task, but a combination of factors this year is making it particularly difficult for farmers of the state's Number One crop.

Mark Hodges, the executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, says a dry spring and the rising cost of fuel and fertilizer is having a severe impact on the bottom line for many wheat growers.

Apache wheat farmer Paul Jackson represents an eight-county region of southwest Oklahoma on the Wheat Commission. He says that while the cost of growing wheat has increased, the price has gone down.

The state Department of Agriculture reported the price of hard red wheat was up 3 to 4 cents at closing yesterday, averaging a little more than 3-dollars a bushel across the state.

Hodges says a break-even point in an average production year is about $4.50 per bushel.